Followers are well known in the prior art and are regularly used in dispensing systems for uniform items. One such system is an ammunition magazine, whereby ammunition cartridges are individually dispensed from the magazine into the chamber of a firearm. Magazine and follower systems in the prior art have always had a possibility of jamming when in use due to the existence of low precision relative to the various degrees of freedom that the follower has within the magazine. As a result, the rapidity of fire, the possibility of damage to the magazine, and jarring of the rounds and the follower (e.g., when dropped) can all lead to jamming. For instance, rapid fire creates vibrations that can cause misalignment of the rounds and follower, and rapid fire also can prevent realignment of components that might realign under slow rate of fire conditions. As another example, damage to a magazine can cause misalignment of the rounds and/or the rounds and the follower. Further, jarring of the magazine given the low precision and numerous degrees of freedom of the follower, can lead to restacking or bouncing of the follower out of position
Self-leveling followers have helped to mitigate jams in the magazine, but in certain cases, the structure of a self-leveling follower can actually lead to new and unforeseen issues. In particular, there are many firearms platforms where optimum round feeding occurs when a top surface of the follower has a slight ascending angle of incidence from front to back when compared to a plane that is perpendicular to a magazine casing at any elevation within the magazine (i.e., regardless of the number of rounds remaining). The Steyr AUG (translated “universal army rifle”) platform is just one of many such platforms. The Steyr AUG is an Austrian bullpup rifle chambering 5.56 mm rounds and used by various national armed forces as well as the Austrian Bundesheer and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. In the art, followers have been used that are not self-leveling and as a result they have a greater ability to rotate front to back than self-leveling followers. In the Steyr AUG and similar systems the shape of the magazine, round interface with the receiver, and the configuration of the rounds, leads the follower to naturally tip slightly and thereby achieve a top surface of the follower having a slightly upward angle of incidence. Self-leveling followers are unable to naturally tilt and thus unable to achieve the optimum angle of incidence for the top surface of the follower. There is thus a need in the art for a self-leveling follower designed for the Steyr AUG and similar systems that can achieve the above-described optimum angle of incidence for the top surface of the follower.